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Alison Daigle (right) wrote and directed a play, Arabian Nights: The Framing of Sherazade, for her senior honors project. |
April 21, 2005
BLOOMINGTON, Ill. - During the weekend of April 1, Illinois Wesleyan senior theatre arts major, Alison Daigle presented the final product of her senior honors project, Arabian Nights: The Framing of Sherazade on the stage of the Phoenix Theatre in Memorial Center. Rather than write a paper, which is the most common approach students take for this project, Daigle collaborated with Sara Freeman, assistant professor of theatre history, and chose to write and direct a play.
During the research process, Daigle decided to focus on 1001 Arabian Nights and began a year of study and a semester of intense rehearsals with seven student actresses.
Daigle and her cast used a series of free-write activities and improvisational exercises to adapt the tales into a play. The performance focused on the subservient role of women in the Middle East and Northern Africa and the lost joy of storytelling.
The cast of Arabian Nights: The Framing of Sherazade included:
--Sally Bell of St. Louis, theatre arts and English major, graduate of Parkway North High School;
--Annie DiMaria of Morton Grove, Ill., theatre arts major, graduate of Niles Township West High School
--Katie Genualdi of Park Ridge, Ill., theatre arts major, graduate of Maine Township South High School
--Lisa Karlin of Overland Park, Kan., music theatre major, graduate of Saint Thomas Aquinas High School;
--Liz Olson of Red Wing, Minn., theatre arts major, graduate of Red Wing High School;
--Rachel Price of New Lenox, Ill., theatre arts major, graduate of Lane Technical High School; and
--Elizabeth Williams of New York City, music theatre major, graduate of Trinity School.
Contact: Taylar Kuzniar (309) 556-3181